THE TAIPANS - Hong Kong's merchant princes

Oxford/New York/Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 1991. Cover illustration: 'Afternoon tea in Jardine's garden above East Point' - 1875. 'The Taipans' is an account of Hong Kong's merchant princes from the origins of the first trading houses in eighteenth-century Canton and Macau to the beginning of the First World War. The early taipans, hard-headed business men from Britain, the USA, and India, built up immense fortunes from the opium trade. In the 1830s a single company, Jardine & Matheson, controlled one-third of China's foreign trade. Partners in such firms could well afford 'the princely style of liberality' for which they became renowned. In later years some of the original trading houses diversified successfully while others crashed into bankruptcy. At the same time a class of Chinese middlemen and merchants grew up, establishing the foundations of Hong Kong's influential Chinese business class. First published in 1981, this edition of 'The Taipans' is reissued as an Oxford Paperback with a completely new final chapter which considers present-day taipans and the events of the last ten years, in particular the agreement to return Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. Contents: I). A most gentlemanlike speculation. 1). Early days in Canton. 2). The Princely Hong and the end of the Canton system. II). Between the two wars. 3). Anglo-Chinese relations. 4). Thade with China. 5). Hong Kong affairs. 6). Hong Kong business and social life. III). Old and new China hands. 7). The old China hands. 8). The Sassoons. 9). Banking. 10). Taikoo. IV). Hong Kong - The old order changeth. 11). Civic affairs. 12). Business and social affairs. With epilogue, notes, selected bibliography and index. 42 plates. X + 250 pag. . Reissued in Oxford Paperbacks. Paperback. Good copy/Cover in color. 21,5cmx14cm.